


Sort of

by Nival_Vixen



Series: Short & sweet tumblr-weed [22]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Child Stiles, Claudia Stilinski's Death, Complete, Derek Takes Care Of Stiles, Light Angst, M/M, Mentioned Kate Argent, Mentioned Paige, Other, Stilinski Family Feels, Talia Hale Feels, Teen Derek Hale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 17:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2701079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nival_Vixen/pseuds/Nival_Vixen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Is that him? Is that Derek?</p>
<p>Sort of.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>The first voice Derek hears, truly hears over the jumbled shouts and crumbling bricks, is one that he remembers from when he was younger, even younger than he is now. It was before Kate, and it's a voice he trusts even more than the remembered honeyed words from Kate. Stiles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sort of

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the gifset on Tumblr [here](http://nivalvixen.tumblr.com/post/104067124232/is-that-him-is-that-derek-sort-of-the-first)

The first voice Derek hears, truly hears over the jumbled shouts and crumbling bricks, is one that he remembers from when he was younger, even younger than he is now. It was before Kate, and it's a voice he trusts even more than the remembered honeyed words from Kate. _Stiles_.

Laura had hurt herself in public, and had been taken to the hospital by the well-meaning parent, not knowing that she'd already healed by the time they'd gotten to the car. Laura was older, a better actor than him, and Derek had made himself hang back while his parents rushed over to her in the hospital waiting room. He didn't want to say or do anything that would make anyone suspicious, and he knew his mother would be listening out for him as she always did now, so he wandered down the hospital hallway aimlessly.

A soft sniffle stopped him, Derek frowning when he couldn't see the source, and he took a moment to listen carefully. There was another sniffle, almost quieter this time, and Derek looked down at the row of chairs, his frown deepening. Squatting down, he looked under the chairs, only to see a big pair of brown eyes looking straight back at him, the tiny child crying tears that were even bigger than his eyes, and his body curled up around himself, still sniffling quietly.

"You okay?" Derek asked, voice quiet and uncertain. He hadn't been certain of much lately, not since Paige.

Those big brown eyes just stared back at him, and the boy didn't say anything in response for a few moments.

"Sort of."

_Right, that was really helpful_.

"You want to come out from under there?" Derek suggested.

The boy shook his head firmly, almost knocking himself out on the floor and chair legs at the same time.

"Okay. Why are you under there?"

The kid just shook his head again. He obviously wasn't much of a talker.

"Right. Where are your parents? I can go find them for you," Derek offered.

He didn't really want to leave a kid lying on the hospital floor, hiding under chairs, but he could hear his mother down the hall making apologies on behalf of Laura, and how she was probably all right to go home now.

At his words, the kid's eyes welled up with tears and he sobbed into his hands, and somehow - as always, it seemed - Derek had made things worse.

"Shoot! Don't cry, kid. C'mon, I'm sorry. For whatever I did, I'm sorry. Just stop crying, please," Derek begged softly, wincing and hoping like heck that his mother was too preoccupied to hear him. He didn't know how he'd be able to explain making a little kid bawl his eyes out wasn't really his fault.

The kid pulled in on himself even more, small enough that he could fit between the legs of the chair. Derek reached and yanked him out before he could think about it, and pulled the kid against his chest, holding him tight as he continued to cry. Geez, he was so awful at this, he didn't know what to do, and he felt like his own heart was pounding and it _hurt_ , it hurt just seeing this little kid cry.

Awkwardly, Derek stood up with the kid still in his arms - he weighed barely anything, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to believe that someone like him could lift him without superhuman strength - and sat on the chairs, the kid in his lap and still crying.

His mother found him like that a few minutes later, Derek's heart pounding to burst, eyes wide and almost wolfing out because he'd done something wrong - again - and didn't know how to fix it. Again.

"Sweetheart, are you all right?" Talia asked softly, kneeling and touching a hand to the kid's shoulder.

The black lines up her hand were almost immediate, and they were so thick and dark that Derek felt sick at the sight of them. He'd only seen ones that bad when his human Uncle had died last year, and he'd been in pain for three whole days before his mother could do anything to help.

The kid shook his head, but he looked a little dazed and confused, small fingers clutching into Derek's shirt until he thought the fabric would tear.

"Can I find someone for you, sweetheart?" Talia asked, voice soft and a little raw as she took on the boy's pain.

"My mum - they called Daddy - don't wanna go back there."

The words are hard enough to hear for Derek, and with the sobbing, it's almost indecipherable. Even still, his hold on the kid tightens a bit, his mother trying to decide what the poor boy's talking about.

"Your father's been called... about your mother?"

The boy nods firmly, starting to cry again, despite Talia leaching his pain.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" Talia asked.

Derek can see a look of realisation dawning on his mother's face. It's a realisation he's starting to suspect for himself, but he doesn't want it to be true.

"S-Stiles."

"Well, Stiles. Let's see if we can find someone to look after you. Is that okay?"

Stiles sniffled a bit more, clung to Derek tighter, but nodded. Derek stood and held him up, giving his mother a pleading look when she raised her eyebrow at him using his werewolf strength in public.

"He's not heavy," he promised softly.

Talia relented when she saw the tear stains on his shirt, and nodded. "Let's find his parents sooner rather than later."

Derek follows her dutifully, Stiles clutching him and sobbing every now and then. Talia makes her way through the hospital at a brisk pace, trying not to draw attention to the fact that her son's holding up a six year old who should be too heavy for him to hold comfortably.

They come to a stop at the emergency waiting area, where a man in a police uniform is sitting in a seat, sobbing into his hands. When he sees him, Stiles wriggles around in Derek's arms to get out to the man. Derek sets him down quickly, watching with a bit of concern as the kid stumbles forward, crying for his Daddy and collapsing against his legs. The man is still sobbing quietly, and only pulls Stiles up into his arms after a few seconds.

Talia waited a moment, until the officer looked up at them through blurry eyes. He thanked them both softly, and Talia nods before turning around and guiding Derek away. He wants to stay, wants to make sure that Stiles will be okay, but he doesn't know how to do that, not anymore, and not when he's distraught still himself, so he lets her lead him away instead.

"Are you okay, Derek?" Talia asked before they went outside to where Laura and his father are waiting.

Derek glanced back to where he'd left Stiles and gave a slight shrug. "Sort of."

...

The end.

Thanks for reading!


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